Britain's strategy for getting Iran to give up its nuclear plans would be to try to get Russia and China, to impose sanctions that could be enforced militarily if diplomacy fails, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has resumed talks on a Franco-British statement urging Iran to suspend uranium enrichment as demanded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The meeting comes after senior officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, met for more than four hours Monday, but failed to agree on a strategy to coax Iran to forgo nuclear weapons.

"The talks were difficult", largely because of Russian and Chinese objections to the firm stance advocated by the Western powers, a Western diplomat told AFP.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton had expressed hope that the joint statement could be adopted after council discussions Tuesday afternoon. U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters after the meeting "We remain convinced that we will achieve a presidential statement." "It may take a little bit of time, but it's going to be worth the time because when we do achieve that statement, it will be yet another clear unified message by the international community that Iran has to heed the words of both the IAEA and the U.N. Security Council."